


A date with Amy Santiago (or maybe not)

by jakepurralta



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-28
Updated: 2015-05-28
Packaged: 2018-04-01 17:40:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4028887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jakepurralta/pseuds/jakepurralta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amy is (besides the obvious: beautiful) intelligent, good-hearted and always striving for excellence. It’s no wonder you ended up (kind of) falling for her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A date with Amy Santiago (or maybe not)

You’re having a good day.

You cracked the case (well, actually, your team did), and now you’re sipping a whiskey with a really beautiful woman sitting right in front of you. She’s laughing at your (attempt at a) joke and you think to yourself that you are honestly having a good time right now. Which is nice because not too long ago you were a little worried she might not be into you at all.

Detective Amy Santiago was a little difficult to read. She’s an excellent detective, that’s for sure. Plus, you know that Amy is (besides the obvious: beautiful) intelligent, good-hearted and always striving for excellence. It’s no wonder you ended up (kind of) falling for her.

Time to lay on the charm. You inch a little closer to her. ‘Amy…’ The way her name rolls off your tongue makes her look directly at you, as if you’re about to let her in on a huge secret. Well, this is no secret. ‘You look really beautiful tonight.’

Instead of the expected giggle and shy ‘thank you’, Amy scrunches her face as the puzzle pieces seem to slowly fall in place in her mind. ‘Wait. Was this… was this supposed to be a date?’

Did she not know?

You certainly did not see this one coming. ‘Can I take you out for some drinks later?’ It seemed pretty clear to you when you spoke the words. The words ‘take’ and ‘out’ were in it, after all. Amy Santiago was a terrific detective, but she was oddly oblivious when it came to her own love life. Case in point: apparently she thought tonight’s drinks were merely a way to celebrate another successful case. ‘Uh, yeah. I apologize if I wasn’t clear on that. But if you don’t want it to be, I completely understand. We can just finish our drinks and go our separate ways as friends.’

She tilts her head to the side and offers you an apologetic smile. ‘To be honest, I’d prefer it that way.’

‘Alright.’ You chuckle and shake your head a little, partially at her remorseful look (she doesn’t owe you anything, anyway) and partially at your own stupidity (you’ve been going on for at least 45 minutes sitting with a beautiful woman who didn’t even know she was on a date with you). ‘But can I ask you something?’

‘Sure.’

‘If this was a date, and you were aware of it, would you want to go out on a second date?’ It’s not a way of asking her out for a second (technically first) real date, but you’re genuinely interested. It’s nice to have options, after all.

She looks surprised and opens her mouth slowly, seemingly considering her words. ‘You mean, do I… like you?’

‘I guess that’s what I’m trying to ask you, yeah.’

‘I’m sorry. No.’

Ouch. So that’s a first. You’ve never been turned down by a woman before. Still, you remind yourself that she’s her own woman and her decision is only hers to make so you give her a smile while inwardly swallowing the hit. ‘Oh. Huh. Well, it’s a good thing we cleared that up, then.’

Another one of those apologetic head tilts. ‘You okay?’

‘Definitely, don’t worry about me. I’ve just never been turned down before. I guess there’s a first time for everything, right?’

‘I suppose so.’

She reaches out for her glass on the table, clearly doing so to ease herself from some of the tension she experiences whenever she doesn’t really know what else to say. A few seconds pass before you think about what could be a reason why she’s not as interested in you as you’d hoped.

You decide to go for it. You’re on your second glass of rye whiskey and you’re feeling a little cheeky tonight. ‘This doesn’t happen to have anything to do with Jake, or does it?’

At the mention of her absent partner’s name, she instantly looks down with an embarrassed chuckle, bringing her hands to her head to tuck some loose strands of hair behind her ears. You’re not sure because of the poorly lit surroundings, but she might be blushing a little. You can’t help but smile at her reaction. ‘Are you asking me…’

‘-if you like Jake, if you don’t mind my asking. You don’t have to respond if you guys have one of those complicated situations.’

She laughs at that, and you calmly scrutinize her as she takes a moment to recollect herself. She puts her drink back, flutters her hand, throws her hair behind her shoulder and sits up straight. Professional, rational Amy Santiago. There she is.

‘I’ve decided that it’s best not to date cops anymore. It just gets so messy and it jeopardizes efficiency at work.’ Her mostly straight face betrays a flash of a somber look, but it’s gone as soon as you notice it. ‘Besides, my friendship with Jake is too valuable to risk it.’

You grin at her in an attempt to cheer her up. ‘Yeah, you two do have an interesting back and forth going on. It must be nice working with him.’

She rolls her eyes with a smile. ‘Well, ‘nice’ is an interesting way of putting it. Getting under my skin is one of his favorite pastimes and he often gets himself into trouble with the Captain… but in the end he’s a good detective.’ You nod and wait patiently. Her eyes look past yours, she’s clearly deep in thought. Interesting how you first expected this night to be your date with Amy and now she’s talking about another man she clearly loves. ‘The reason why it’s so easy for him to tease me is because he knows me better than anyone else. When I work a case with him, I tend to laugh a lot more. We’re a good team.’

Her eyes find yours again, and you realize she’s a bit flustered. You glance at the emergency exit before looking back at her. ‘Have you told him that?’

‘Not like that, no. He’d probably make fun of me forever.’

‘Well, as a peer in your line of work, I strongly suggest that you do at least tell him about the ‘no dating cops thing’. It might help him get over you.’

She raises an eyebrow at that. ‘What makes you think he’s not over me?’

You shrug casually. ‘I’m a detective. It’s what I do.’

You don’t tell her that just a few seconds ago, you spotted him near the escape exit of the room, looking as if he was about to march over to your booth before being escorted back outside by the security guard.

* * *

A few hours and a dumb medal later, you find Jake at his desk at the precinct and you hand him the paperwork from the case. He’s wearing his usual smile and Rosa strides past, saying something about Jake’s exploded taquitos. It doesn’t seem to faze him, and he cracks a quick joke before focusing back on you.

‘So, how’d it go with Santiago?’

It certainly is interesting interacting with Jake. He can talk about anything and make it seem like he’s just making light conversation, but you know better. He’s trying to figure out if you and Amy are an item now.

‘Actually, she wasn’t into it. Swing and a miss.’

‘You’re kidding?’ His happy-go-lucky voice is replaced by a more serious tone and genuine surprise.

You consider telling him the whole truth, but quickly decide that Amy will tell him when she’s ready. For now, you’ll just play along. ‘Yeah, it was really weird. Never been turned down before, so unexpected. I’m excited to see what happens to me next.’

In lieu of a vocal response, Jake just nods with the same confounded look. You pat him on the arm and stroll off, out of the Nine-Nine.

You wonder when your paths will cross again.

* * *

Sadly, you don’t work another case with Detectives Peralta and Santiago anymore. But that’s how life usually goes. You meet people, you get along with them, you leave and move on, the memory of them still present, just far away in the back of your mind.

Sometimes you return to Brooklyn, and you briefly wonder what happened to them, and today is no different. You’re about to visit your pregnant sister in New York, but since she’s not home yet, you have some time to kill and you decide to take a stroll through Prospect Park.

The weather is enjoyable. The combination of the sun and a light breeze makes it ideal for walking, and so you aren’t the only one in the park. The place is full of children playing on the grass, elderly people sitting on the benches and tourists taking pictures. Occasionally, you step to the side to let a jogger pass.

You like people watching. It gives you a feeling of serenity. It makes you think about all these individuals with their own back stories. Some of them may feel like the happiest persons in the world (like that elderly man giving the lady next to him a peck on the cheek while she laughs and lightly smacks him), and sadly, some of them may just be here to kill time, only to return to homes they don’t feel welcome in. You can’t possibly know all of their stories, but it’s fun to guess by their faces.

For instance, there’s a couple in the distance. You’re looking at their backs, so it’s impossible to fill in a story based on their facial expressions. But there are plenty of other indicators left to tell that they’re a content couple. The man, slightly taller than the woman, has an arm around the brunette. She has hers place on his lower back. Her shoulders are quickly moving up and down, so she’s probably laughing at something that has been said. Their faces are aimed at a little boy who’s playing with a soccer ball not far from them. Maybe it’s their kid.

Someone bumps into you and that’s when you realize you’ve been staring for a while. You mumble a quick excuse that’s completely futile because the person is long gone, obviously in a hurry. You move your feet again, towards the couple you’ve been looking at. They’re starting to become close enough for you to overhear the boy’s excited screams.

‘Dad, look! I can go pro!’

The little boy picks up the ball and tosses it in the air, determined to impress his father with a keepie uppie. However, his foot collides with the ball a little too hard and instead of keeping it in range, he kicks it far away, in your direction. His father’s laugh is louder than his disappointed ‘aw’. The father turns around to chase after the ball, but since it was kicked in your direction, it’s easier for you to stop it. You block the ball’s path with your chest and put it down to the ground by putting your foot on top of it.

‘Oh, thanks! For a minute, I thought I had to-‘

The man stops mid-sentence, clearly just as flabbergasted as you are. He’s a slightly older looking Jake Peralta, the one man you were just thinking about today. He’s still quite the same guy as seven years ago, except now, his hair is cut shorter and you spot little strands of grey hair on the sides. ‘Jake?’

‘Detective Majors!’

You’re about to hold out your hand but Jake catches you off guard by ignoring it and pulling you into a brief but tight hug.

‘Man, long time no see!’

‘Certainly!’ You say with a smile on your face. ‘And you can just call me Dave, by the way.’

‘Will do, Dave.’ Jake nods his head and pats you (maybe a little too excitedly) on the chest. He spins around and calls out to his son and the female figure. ‘Honey, look who I ran into!’

Of course you’re not surprised when the figure turns around and it’s Amy. Much like Jake, she still has the same warm smile on her face, but as she gets closer, you notice slight wrinkles on her face.

‘Detective Dave Majors, what a nice surprise.’ She’s not as impetuous as Jake, so her greeting is nothing more than a polite and firm handshake. The boy is trailing behind her, clearly a little uneasy about the stranger.

‘Sam, this is Dave. Your mommy and I used to work with him.’ Jake tries to peel the boy away from Amy’s leg, but he’s not eager to let go.

You chuckle and bend your knees a little to look into Sam’s big (slightly frightened) eyes. ‘I think this belongs to you.’ You hand him the soccer ball, which he gladly accepts.

‘What do you say to that, Sam?’ Amy queries.

‘Thank you, sir.’

Jake then tells Sam to go play near them ‘while the grown-ups talk’ and you stand up straight again. ‘So, is that your kid?’

‘Yes.’ Jake and Amy say in unison.

You look at Jake and then at Amy. That’s when you spot the ring on Jake’s hand. ‘Oh man, you guys got married, huh?’

‘Oh, yeah. I guess not long after you left, we finally decided to give it a shot.’ Jake said with a big smile on his face, his hand inadvertently reaching out for Amy’s.

You pat Jake on the shoulder and give Amy a polite smirk. ‘Well, I’m glad it worked out for you two. I can’t say I’m surprised, though. When Amy turned me down that night, I knew you were the one for her. I just didn’t know when it was going to happen because of the ‘no cops’ thing.’

Amy laughs at that. ‘Well, it’s not really like me, but a certain _someone_ once convinced me that some rules are meant to be broken. Or exceptions exist.’

Jake put his arm around her and pulled her a little closer, a confident grin on his face. ‘Basically, what she’s saying is that she wouldn’t have dated _any_ cop, unless his name was Jacob Peralta.’ His cockiness earned him a slap on the chest which reminds you of the elderly couple you spotted earlier, and you can’t help but think to yourself, this might just last equally long. You certainly hope so, since they do look really happy.

‘Dad, I did it! I did it!’

Sam’s excited screams draw their attention and Jake rushes over to his son, who excitedly tells his father that he kept the ball in the air for five times. He even demonstrates a reconstruction of the act by bringing the ball to his feet and in the air again.

You hear Amy laughing as she’s looking at her husband, who does absolutely nothing to curb his son’s enthusiasm. Instead, he’s already telling wild fantasies about world famous soccer player _Samuel Santiago-Peralta_ , who plays as a striker for FC Barcelona and scores the winning goal in the Champion’s League.

‘You sure got a nice family, Amy.’

She beams at her partner and son. ‘I sure do.’

**Author's Note:**

> This is something I've been thinking about writing for a couple of weeks now. Shout out to doctorswarley, who kept reminding me and thus is the reason why these words escaped my mind and ended up on digital paper. Also, even after I wrote the damn thing, I didn't know what title to give it, or how to summarize it without spoiling the 'you' character too soon. Sorry?


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